The Schools' Observatory News
March 2024
Astrophysics Work Experience Week - Deadline
The deadline is fast approaching, but the application form is still open and will close on Monday, April 15th 2024.
As a reminder, the week is for students in year 12 (or equivalent, in the UK and Ireland) and begins on Monday, 8th July, and ends on Friday, 12th July 2024. Visit our Work Experience page for more details and the link to the application form.
Accommodation is not provided, but we can provide financial support for public transport costs. We especially encourage applications from students within the Liverpool City Region.
Primary Teacher CPD!
Nearly 100 of you have started Our Place in Space, the first of our new suite of CPD courses for educators. We look forward to issuing the first sets of completion certificates, endorsed by the university soon!
Made with the UK and Irish curricula in mind, our CPD (Continuing Professional Development) courses are completely free, thanks to the generous funding provided by Liverpool John Moores University.
Our latest CPD Courses are interactive and flexible, and you can study at your own pace. We will be adding more courses throughout the year.
The Schools' Observatory on YouTube
Did you know we have a YouTube channel? We have just updated our YouTube trailer to showcase why we do what we do, so take a look!
Science Week 2024: Time
With Science Week 2024 just around the corner (8th to 17th March) and this year's - we have a lot of resources if you're planning on getting involved, and why not check out some of the free online events being run theme being time of resources to share with you by the Royal Observatory Greenwich?
Our time-themed resources:
- The Space Age Calculator - Your students can use our calculator to find out how old they would be on another planet!
- Calculate your age on another planet - If they want more of a challenge, they can calculate their ages themselves.
- Make a sundial - We have had a little sunshine in the UK recently, so why not try to tell the time with your own sundial?
- Kepler's Laws: Find the mass of the Sun - aimed at 14 to 18 year-olds, learn about Kepler's 3 Laws of planetary motion and calculate the mass of our Sun.
- Calculate the speed of the planets - Do all the planets in the Solar System travel at the same speed? Your students can use our planet data to find the answer!
- Keep a Moon diary - your students can use our Moon Diary to record what the Moon looks like each night. This activity will take 4 weeks to complete.
FREE Online events from the Royal Observatory Greenwich
- Primary teacher CPD - Time and Space - Tuesday 12th March, 4.30 pm to 5.30 pm GMT
- Diving into the dark: Supermassive Black Holes - Think Space Lecture for grown-ups: Friday 15th March, 6 pm to 7 pm
Add it to the calendar!
Science Week - Time, 8th to 17th March
The theme for 2024’s packs and poster competition is ‘Time’.
Pi Day, 14th March 2024
Spring Equinox, 19th or 20th March 2024 (Northern Hemisphere). See our Seasons Learn page and Why Does the Earth Have Seasons activity.
World Meteorology Day, 23rd March 2024
